''Magic Grandad'' is an educational programme which originally aired on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

Schools section Watch during 1995. The show saw Magic Grandad, played by Geoffrey Bayldon, take his young grandchildren, played by Kristy Bruce and James Moreno, back in time to see historical events and people such as the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

. Cheryl Hall also starred in the show as the children's mother. The programme was said to make learning about history "fun for youngsters" and was aimed at children aged 4–7 years. During its peak, many schools in England used the show to teach young children about history. It was very popular and influential among primary school children. The programme ran for two series in 1993 and 1994, one themed around historical items and another themed around historical people, though it was repeated on TV for a number of years after it ended. In 2003, a new version featuring a new cast was remade for

. In the years following the programme, a number of educational items were released in the UK including a

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

entitled ''Magic Grandad's Seaside Holidays'' designed for Key Stage 1 pupils to learn about history in the same way the TV show taught them. Written by Susan Bolton, the disc is designed for Infant school teachers to teach pupils during history lessons. In 2003, a new interactive version of the show was released on CD-ROM. In keeping with the original concept of the TV show before it, it allowed users to travel back in time whilst featuring the interactive elements described as extras. The main difference was that the cast now appeared in digital form.BBC Magic Grandad`s Seaside Holidays : History : Past Events,People & Changes
/ref> The episodes that were shown in 2001 were the following of 1. "The Promenade" or billed "The Promenade And Souvenirs" on 19 January 2001, 2."The Beach" or billed "On The Beach" on 24 January 2001 and 3. "Entertainment" or billed "The Pier" on 31 January 2001 which starred

Miriam Margolyes Miriam Margolyes ( ; born 18 May 1941) is a British and Australian actress. Known for her work as a character actor across film, television, and stage, she received the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mrs. Mingott in Marti ...

as Grandmama.

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External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0805417, title=Magic Grandad BBC children's television shows 1993 British television series debuts 2009 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series 2000s British children's television series British English-language television shows British preschool education television series 1990s preschool education television series 2000s preschool education television series